Iron Lung (2026) Review!!

Synopsis – Set in a post-apocalyptic future where an event known as “The Quiet Rapture” caused all known stars and habitable planets in the universe to disappear, a convict is sent to search an ocean of blood discovered on a desolate moon, using a midget submarine nicknamed the “Iron Lung”.

My Take – By now we all know about how last weekend saw one of the oddest box-office victories in recent times. Which saw a grassroots passion project from one of the current most popular gaming YouTubers Mark Fischbach, more commonly known as Markiplier and who has more than 38.2 million subscribers to his name, earn back seven times its approximately $3 million budget, with an opening of $21.7 million worldwide.

Particularly after fans demanded that major theater chains pick it up and then showed up in droves. That too without any marketing spend. Proving audience loyalty than many of the present major stars possess. Adapted from the 2022 indie horror game of the same name by David Szymanski, this is a passion project in the truest sense as it sees Fischbach, not just self-finance, but also direct, write, edit and star in.

But since I am neither a gamer nor do I go on YouTube to watch someone else play a video game, I went in with a blank slate, expecting something on the lines of one-man shows like Buried (2010) or Locke (2013), and outer-space-is-possibly-or-definitely-evil films, like Event Horizon (1997) and Solaris (2002). However, while I found Fischbach’s performance to be solid, his script lacked the sparkle to keep one engaged, and the pacing throughout is so monotonous even as he over-zealously attempts to craft a complex character driven story in a windowless submarine simulator.

Yet, on the flip side, the film also has much to like. Right from its grim dark aesthetic that favors practical effects over CGI, and Lovecraftian vibe that blends cosmic import with mental fragility, to its fair helping of Cronenberg inspired visual theatrics, that thrusts the narrative as it takes a serious and uncompromising descent into the depths of an ocean made up of blood. Leaving us with a a white-knuckle cinematic experience that can be called a true original as it feels independent from conventions of duration, collaboration or discipline. Simply told, it’s hard not to admire the pluck and tenacity of just-get-out-there-and-do-it-all-yourself filmmakers.

Sure, the film is about 20 minutes too long, but as the end credits rolled in, I was left feeling as if I’d witnessed the birth of something fresh, and considering how almost everything now days is about being a reboot/remake & nostalgia sequels there are worse things for cinema than for YouTubers to spend their fortunes financing independent feature films.

Set in the distant future, where an event called the Quiet Rapture caused all stars and habitable planets to mysteriously vanish, leaving behind just only a minor set of the human population that occupied space stations and spaceships at the time

The story follows Simon (Mark Fischbach), a man convicted of destroying one of the said space stations, who is offered a chance at freedom if he allows himself to be sealed into a ramshackle submarine, nicknamed the “Iron Lung”, and pilot it to explore a moon covered in an ocean of blood, while taking pictures of the ocean floor using a cumbersome radioactive camera.

With Ava (Caroline Rose Kaplan), the commander of the crew of the larger ship, being the only limited communication coming in through the radio, Simon has to venture through the cavern with only a paper map to help him that is until he discovers that is not alone in this horrifying red sea. By keeping the setting in one enclosed space, the narrative feels eerie, and sometimes quiet, with the silence only broken up by the terrific sound design used for the film.

Here, director Fischbach lovingly recreates the setting and aesthetic. Trapped in an experimental submarine with no external visibility beyond black, white, and grey x-ray-style camera images, Fischbach’s desperate protagonist mostly struggles to navigate his deceptively confined space. The few images that venture outside of the sub are striking. The ocean of blood is exactly as disorienting as it should be. A couple of dream sequences give us a couple of psychedelic images of the outer space setting that is tearing apart at the seams.

To his credit, he carefully threads the needle for Simon’s later collapse through a more introverted story about penance, and a pre-dive incident that not only led to his imprisonment, but also his spiritual and physical breakdown, an element which shifts the film‘s focus away from nerve-wracking B-film peril and towards a more character-driven sort of psychological horror.

Yes, the sparse material and limited budget never allow this to be the film it so clearly wants to be, but director Fischbach works his way around it as much as he can, with the use of splashy horror blood. An amount which has broken a record previously held by 2013’s Evil Dead. And it shows as the blood is the environment. It’s oppressive and ever-present, lending the ocean and ship a sense of life and weight, especially in the film’s climax, where it adds body horror. Leaving my sole and primary criticism to be its pacing, which could have been avoided following a good amount of trimming.

As a performer, Fischbach has created an unusual situation for himself. Despite being a relatively inexperienced actor he carries all 125 minutes of the film almost entirely alone by shedding his high-energy internet persona and delivering the intensity needed.

The voice & on-screen acting from the supporting cast that includes the likes of Caroline Rose Kaplan, Troy Baker, Elsie Lovelock, Elle LaMont, Mick Lauer, David Pettitt, Seán McLoughlin, and Alanah Pearce helps flesh out the world outside the metal coffin. On the whole, ‘Iron Lung‘ is a captivating little horror that stretches long, yet remains gripping enough to captivate genre lovers.